The Big Lottery Fund has awarded nearly £29m in grants to charities and projects which are facing pressure from increased demand caused by public funding cuts.

BIG has today announced that 217 grant holders have been given an extra year of funding to help them cope with a rise in demand for their services as a consequence of government cutbacks.

A further 600 projects have received grants worth up to £10,000 to assist them in working on sustainable funding and review their work.

While the funding is in response to the funding cuts, a BIG spokeswoman said the funder was not stepping in for government spending but rather responding to the pressures government cuts are having on the vulnerable which is leading, in turn, to additional strain on charities’ services. In particular BIG is concentrating on disability support, low-income families and advocacy and information for older people.

The funding is part of a £70m initiative, Supporting Change and Impact, which BIG announced last September as a response to the economic situation.

Nat Sloane, chair of BIG’s England Committee: “It gives an extra year’s funding support to number of organisations that we see are having a particularly significant impact on their beneficiaries. Importantly, it also gives groups some much needed time and space to plan for the future, and explore ways of making their projects more sustainable, whether that be developing more effective operating models, partnership working, or finding new ways to deliver activities in future.”